Tag: Shawn Lampkins

Stress in Your Spit? A Literature Review of The Correlation (Relationship) Between Salivary- Alpha Amylase and the Body’s Reaction to Stress

Presenter(s): Robyn Wright − Human Physiology

Faculty Mentor(s): Jenefer Husman, Shawn Lampkins

Poster 42

Research Area: Science

Salivary-alpha amylase (sAA), a protein enzyme, is a biomarker of psychological stress. Researchers have used sAA to study the body’s processes during stress and its influence on health and human behavior. To conduct future research on students’ responses to exam stress using sAA, we first needed to understand the use of sAA as a biological marker and the best methods of collection and analysis. We conducted a literature search using Google Scholar and Web of Science, using keywords such as “salivary alpha amylase”, “sAA”, “salivary alpha amylase stress tasks”, and “sAA stress”. In six of the eight articles sources we reviewed, we found a strong correlation between the body’s enzymatic activity and the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This search provided evidence for the proposition that increases in physiological stress are matched by an increase in sAA level in spit. Several methodological issues related to collecting sAA were identified. Passive drool or salivettes, rolls of cotton that subjects chew on, have consistently proven to be a reliable, accurate collection method. Our literature search also revealed sAA response to stress is faster, ten minutes between activation and release, than other salivary markers (e.g., cortisol). Based on this review, we are confident that sAA is a biological marker for stress and that salivettes are a reliable and accurate method of collection. In the future, we will utilize the results of this literature review to guide our examination of classroom context on students’ stress responses during midterm exams in a critical gateway course on statics.

Helping STEM Students Thrive: Investigating the Relationship of Course Belongingness and Approaches to Learning

Presenter(s): Shan Zhang

Faculty Mentor(s): Shawn Lampkins & Jenefer Husman

Poster 121

 Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

In college, students become increasingly responsible for their learning behaviors which determine their academic performance, known as self-regulation. If instructors expect students to be self-regulated, they need to know what factors they must address to support student self- regulation. We argue that self-efficacy (students’ belief in their ability to complete a task) and course belongingness (feeling of being valued in the course) are related to student self- regulation (SR), low-regulation (LR), deep learning strategies, (e.g., QAH, engagement of material by asking questions that take critical thought) and surface learning strategies (e.g., QAL, asking surface level questions ). The majority of research in university science education have male- dominated samples, our sample is 61% female-identified. We hypothesized that self-efficacy and course belongingness together would explain a significant portion of the variance in SR. By utilizing an existing validated survey of student approaches to learning from 271 undergraduate, non-major physics students, we conducted multiple regression analyses to explore these topics. We found that course belongingness and self-efficacy had strong positive relations with SR and strong negative relationship with LR. We also found that course belongingness and self-efficacy had a positive relationship with QAH and QAL, though its relation was not as strong as with SR. In conclusion, self-efficacy and course belongingness are strongly and positively related to students’ self-regulation. Based on these preliminary results, professors should consider promoting students’ sense of self-efficacy and feeling of belongingness in their courses. We will also explore gender as a moderator and mediator in this context.